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Hey guys I needed some help in reference to getting a Yellow Top Optima in my car. I have an 01 2dr civic lx. Now I know that optima had made a size batery that fit our cars which was the D51r. Now I went around searching for it and found it hard to come by. I then found out from someone that optima has stopped making them because they are redesigning them. He said that they were having some faulty problems because to come out with a new product and have to redesign it a year later means something was up. So I wanted to know if anyone in this forum has the D51r and if they have had any problems. Also I know there is some way to put the normal size optima in our car but I dont know if it is hard or if it will mess anything up. Any help would be great on this because I got an amp that sucks tons of power and is not getting enough juice.

Also one side question what is the normal mpg that an 01 Lx Automatic should be getting and about how many gallons does it have.

Thanks in advance for the help. This site is awsome.

 
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i still have mine, perfect fit. lasted about 2 yrs so far still going strong even after all the abuse i give it draining all the time with my lights on and crap when i do projects.

ps. i've also been through two very hard winters of below 0F temps. still cranks the car fine.

 
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ive been running the 51 series for almost 2yrs with no problems

 
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but does it really make a difference power wise like for subwoofer systems.

 
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does anyone know if the regular size yellow top will fit in the vic or not?? i'm also looking at upgrading but the guys u'm buying it from said it's hard to get the 51r.. so i would like to know if it;s possible for the regular size to fit.. or i'll just have to stick with the stocker up front and them put the yellow top in the trunk.. sorry to jack your thread but i need info too..

Brandon

 
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forget a better battery, get a HO alternator. youll benefit more from that.

 
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where can you get an HO alt from???

 
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unless your system is drawing alot of wattage i think the optima is a better buy. it will crank your car every single time and it has a long life, with a stock alternator, it not unlikely that it will outlast the car

 
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well you can get the D51 instead of the D51r
there are a few on ebay right now.
as far as the recall yeah optima recalled them and are planning on releasing the D51 D51r group again in June or right around june.

you can get a redtop see a few of the redtops in the 01-04 civics.

 
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ya i got the group 51 that was the wrong way by accident so i just moved the neg and pos terminals around.

 
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but do the red top and yellow top have the same cranking output?

 
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no, the yellowtop has alot less cca than a redtop. this is only important for starting, and it starts my car quite well in subzero conditions. Once it got to -10F here and it started right up. The deep cycle properties of the yellowtop are much better than hi cca. And the yellowtop still has a higher cca than the stock battery.

 
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I'm hearing alot about these "yellow top" batteries. are these batteries supposed to be the best and strongest batteries for cars? cause if so, i'd be happy to get one for my car....eventhough it's not TOTALLY needed. I've seen those yellow top batteries at the local AUTOZONE and thought to myself "wow those batteries are pricey$!". whats up guys?

OH YEAH!, and i also wanted to ask. which of these batteries is the best one? the yellow, red or blue top? which one of those colors are the strongest one?

 
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red top has the most cca (cold crank amps), but its a regular battery. the yellowtop is a deep cycle, meaning it won't be damaged by drain/charge cycles and you can also bump your system with the car off and not damage the battery charge capacity. but not too long, i left my lights on a couple hours and the car wouldn't start haha. blue top is a marine battery.

 
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so the best bet for someone with a 7thgen would have to be the YELLOW TOP? the blue top is ofcourse not for cars. and the red and yellow top are for cars but the yellow top is better than the red top?. is that more or less what you are getting at gearbox?

 
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also the yellowtop is the only one that will fit exactly. stock size is "group 51"

 
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so the yellow-top is the ONLY one i could get for my civic? is that why the ONLY optima battery i seen at AUTOZONE was the yellow-top one? the red-top won't fit my car?

 
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I know you were only asking for the D51R and N applications but do take a look at the larger 34/78 size too, a few people did it and when I was shopping for my Optima it only cost a tiny bit more, so I went for it and lo and behold it shoehorned right in. Several people have done it with pics, might be worth a look for you.

 
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well it could fit but you have to make room and remove the battery tray/make a custom tie down. its alot bigger and not a direct replacement.

 
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i'm just looking to get the exact right size for my civic. nothing bigger or smaller.

 
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then optima yellow group 51 is the only choice.

 
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yeah, thats whats comming up at the optimabatteries.com site where you can type in your car info and it'll come up with the correct and right battery size and everything for you. and yes, i'm getting group 51. with CCA 500. part # YEL51. i've got some money to spend. about 170 so that should be about right for a new optima yellow-top battery. next stop!, pepboys or autozone!

 
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make sure its the right way or you'll have to switch the positice and negative clamps like i did.

 
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you mean the right way to put it in the battery tray? and don't they have the possitive and negative markings on the tops of them? so you know where you put the pos and neg wires?

 
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there is + and - terminals on the battery but one has the + on the right side and the other kind had + on the left. so get the one with the + towards the driver side unless you want to relocate the terminal clamps.

 
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oh ok i see. gearbox, whats the difference in optimas official group size 51 battery and the FULL SIZE optima battery you can get for a civic? ofcourse the group size 51 battery will fit civics. but would you have to modify anything if you were to use the FULL SIZE optima yellow top battery? i was reading that someone mentioned the FULL SIZE yellow top......? i know that the yellow top group size 51 battery is JUST for the civics now but is that group 51 yellow top battery ALSO going to give my car good starting power and good power performance to my car aswell as the stereo?

i think the the colors for these batteries reads like this....?

red-top = just starting power.

yellow-top = starting power AND stereo and electronics power.

blue-top = pretty much no even for cars? LOL.


if i'm getting this right. the YELLOW-TOP battery is the best all around for cars? cause it's got the deep cycle and engine starting power and also very good for all the wiring and electronical powers like lights and stereo?


i wanna REALLY REALLY make sure cause i could end up actually going to get an optima yellow-top battery tomorrow after work at pepboys. i just need to know for sure what does what and whats the best (?-TOP) battery for cars in general for all benefits. THANKS

 
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yellow top is still an upgrade over stock battery in terms of cca. yellow top doesn't get damaged when it drains, and it recharges alot faster. red has more cca than yellow, but its only useful when starting the car. yellow can start the car too so there's no point. blue is for boats.

 
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You can use just about any bigger size (group) battery in the Civic.
Only problem is getting the bigger sizes to fit properly in the small space.

I had my yellow top from Pepboys less than a year before it died.
Received a brand new replacement at no charge.

 
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Again not to beat a dead horse, considering Johnold is set on the 51 (and I believe all the q's are covered above), but all I did was remove the batt tray, then I used the stock tiedown and it only took a little muscle to get it to bolt down - just a little pressure pushing the batt tie toward the front while I used el ratchet wrencho to tighten. Took about 2 minutes longer than installing a stock sized batt. Just thought I'd add it for people who really have to have the extra CCA's/capacity for whatever reason.

 
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Blue tops work fine in cars too.... A lot of people run blue tops. You have to put some sort of clamp on the other outputs but it still runs perfectly. They are NOT just for marine vehicles.

And im not going to wait for someone to tell me that you cant lol. Heres some proof. This is a 1994 Honda Accord that was in a magazine (so sorry about the quality of the pic) But its pretty easy to put in, fit might be tight. No power related problems at all. Mines on the way lol. Ill let ya know how easy it is to put in once i get it in.